{"id":5679,"date":"2021-12-08T02:25:53","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T02:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caps-web.org\/?p=5679"},"modified":"2023-10-17T00:35:10","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T00:35:10","slug":"the-truth-behind-pinellas-county-florida-pet-shops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caps-web.org\/the-truth-behind-pinellas-county-florida-pet-shops\/","title":{"rendered":"CAPS Investigator’s Journal: The Truth Behind Pinellas County, Florida Pet Shops"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m Pete, CAPS\u2019 lead investigator and author of Rescue Dogs. My 18 years of experience working for CAPS includes investigating hundreds of puppy and kitten mills and pet shops across the country and working undercover at the then largest USDA-licensed puppy brokerage facility, at an atrocious large-scale USDA-licensed broker\/breeder, and at a Petland franchise. Recently, I went undercover to five pet shops in Pinellas County, Florida.<\/p>\n

Pinellas County commissioners are leaning toward passing an ordinance that would ban the retail sale of dogs and cats but grandfather in six existing pet shops that sell puppies and kittens. Grandfathering in pet shops doesn\u2019t work, as neighboring Hillsborough County, which recently undid its grandfather clause, discovered. The complete ban of the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits at all pet shops in a city, county or state accomplishes the following objectives: saves the lives of local shelter animals because more people adopt, protects consumers from fraud and deceit by pet shops, and diminishes the demand for mill-bred animals.<\/p>\n

In August 2021, I went undercover to four pet shops — Blue Sky Puppies opened in mid-September; Sunshine Puppies opened a second location in December — selling puppies and kittens and one selling rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, chicks and ducklings. My goal was to investigate employee and owner claims about the source of the stores’ animals. Pet shops\u2019 lies work on most people, because if you don\u2019t have a deep understanding of commercial animal breeders, you won\u2019t know how to question or research the information you\u2019re provided at stores. Fortunately, CAPS does that for you. Here\u2019s what we found.<\/p>\n

The four stores all lied to me about the sources of their animals. Some of the lies were shockingly bold. The rabbit store employees admitted knowing nothing about their rabbit breeders, other than the breeders are locals and one is named \u201cHarry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Petland Largo<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Outsite
Outside of Petland Largo in Pinellas County, Florida<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Petland Largo makes a bizarre fraudulent claim to customers. An employee told me the store\u2019s puppies come from the \u201ctop two percent of USDA-licensed and inspected breeders,\u201d which he said ranks breeders on \u201chealth standards.\u201d The USDA has no ranking system for breeders of any kind. Another employee told me the store\u2019s breeding dogs all have access to yards, and showed me pictures of dogs playing in grass to demonstrate how kennels looked.<\/p>\n

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Levi Graber (Blue Ribbon Puppies) brokers puppies from Amish breeders to Petland Largo, one of seven Petland Florida franchises<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She said that older dogs are bred only two to three times in their lives, aren\u2019t bred until they are two years old, and are only bred once a year. She also claimed smaller dogs are bred only once or twice, and French and English Bulldogs are bred only once in their lives. All of these statements are false. Few commercial breeders have yards for dogs, none have constant access to play yards for dogs, and I\u2019ve never seen a breeder who breeds dogs as seldom as the employee claimed. Breeders breed female dogs as soon as they go into heat, and they typically go into heat at least twice in 18 months. Dogs are bred for many years, and no commercial breeder allows dogs that produce puppies to stop breeding after one litter of puppies.<\/p>\n